TEDxLATI

Speakers

Erik Hatch

Business Owner, Chaos Creator, Hot Mess, Do-Gooder

Erik lives in Fargo where he leads one of the Top 40 real estate teams in the country and has been voted the Best Realtor in Fargo, ND, since 2013 by the Fargo Forum. In 2016 and 2017, he was recognized by Inc. magazine for having the third-fastest growing business in North Dakota. Erik is also a national speaker, trainer, and coach.

Personally, he is married and has two children. His credits include consistently golfing under 100 (for nine holes), running a marathon, eating a 52-ounce steak, and is a self-proclaimed bacon enthusiast. Erik helped raise one million dollars for the local homeless community and is currently helping raise more than a million dollars for kids in poverty around the world. (www.SellAHomeSaveAChild.org).

Coddy MacNeill

Graduate Student at the University of Nebraska studying Higher Education Administration with a concentration in Student Affairs, Tutor Coordinator with TRIO Student Support Services

Coddy’s professional experiences include working as a Tutor Coordinator with TRIO Student Support Services at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln and at the University of Toronto – Mississauga; being an ACHUHO-I Summer Intern at Harvard University; working as a Resident Advisor at the University of North Alabama; and being an Assistant Professor of English at Lycee Valery Larbaud, Cusset France.

Having lived in nearly a dozen states and three countries and visited nearly all US states and about 20 countries around the world, Coddy has traveled extensively striving to mark things off of his bucket list. So far, he has marked off backpacking Europe, skydiving, seeing the northern lights, and learning to ride a unicycle. He is an aspiring author with his first book scheduled to be published next year.

Anne Lewis

Special Projects Director, South Dakota Discovery Center

This year was an exciting year professionally for Anne, as she was named a 2017 National Geographic Grosvenor Teacher Fellow for which she was able to go to Svalbard, Greenland and Iceland to explore the Arctic. Also, as a National Geographic Certified Educator Trainer and Ambassador, she has the honor of supporting teachers in creating a culture of exploration in their classrooms.

Anne is building a network of GLOBE-trained educators in South Dakota. GLOBE is an international science and education project, sponsored by NASA with support from NOAA and the National Science Foundation, which involves students in research through collecting and reporting Earth System’s data. She serves as the GLOBE US Partner Forum chair, a national advisory group to GLOBE.

Personally, Anne strives to live a life of experiences and exploration, trying new things, some of which work out (taking up yoga in the last year) and some of which don’t (running for City Commission).

She participated in least tern research in July, paddling 46 miles on the Cheyenne River in two days. Anne has introduced people to hiking, paddling, and primitive camping. Once she becomes more proficient at backpacking, she’ll introduce them to that as well.

Shawna Conrad

Cosmetologist

A returning TEDxLATI speaker, Shawna’s professional accomplishments include being a Zig Ziglar certified trainer, motivational speaker, Surface hair educator, Cosmetology substitute teacher at Lake Area Technical Institute, and business owner.

Her personal accomplishments include roles as MN FFA President 2012-2013, National FFA Prepared Public Speaking participant, high honor college graduate, and SD Skills USA champion in Extemporaneous Speaking & Job Interview.

Todd L. Brist

Principal, Watertown (SD) Middle School

Todd’s professional accomplishments include being named the 2016 South Dakota Middle School Principal of the Year and he’s a member of the Association of Middle Level Educators Board of Trustees (Elect). He is also a local, state, and national speaker; led construction of $19M middle school project; and has contributed more than 1000 hours of professional development as a school administrator. In 2014, he earned his doctorate degree. Personally, he is married to his wonderful wife, Jennifer, and is father to great kids Tomas, Allison, and Emma.

Roxanne Weber

Software Engineer, State of South Dakota

Ms. Weber has experience in various aspects of business and program analysis, including computer programming, model development, and data collection and analysis. She has been involved in projects that analyzed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) Civil Works (CW) directorate business processes, helping to create a plan that would extend the development of a set of management decision-making software tools into all six CW business areas. Ms. Weber was also a key player in the development of a comprehensive performance measures model for the CW directorate, and participated in a major U.S. Naval Dredging Survey throughout the United States.
Most recently she has been an active employee with the State of South Dakota’s Bureau of Information and Telecommunications (BIT) as a software engineer, involved in the development of system improvements for the state’s Department of Economic Assistance (EA), part of the Division of Social Services (DSS).

Ms. Weber has most recently been involved in many political activities, most notably having planned a local satellite Women’s March event in Pierre, South Dakota. Her involvement in these events led to planning of several other smaller events in and around the area, and helped to spur planning of the first State Democracy Summit in the state.

Karen Dennison

Speaker

In her professional life, Karen was a career coach and employment consultant at 28 of the top Fortune 50 American Companies. Additionally, she developed an online marketing agency and created a membership website to assist small business owners comply with state and federal regulations.

Personally, with her husband, Bob, four kids, four kids-in-law and 10 grandchildren, there is nothing she loves more than huge, loud family get-togethers. When her children were growing up, she homeschooled them and also provided high school math and Latin classes for surrounding homeschooled kids. As an internationally known quilt artist, Karen loves working at her machines. But, even more, she loves helping other budding artists find their voices.

Dre Baldwin

Owner, former Pro Basketball Player

Dre’s personal and professional accomplishments include being a nine-year professional athlete, the author of 14 books, the creator of 150+ training programs, an Internet pioneer of athletic training videos, and the host of a daily podcast: “Work On Your Game.”